Monthly Archives: May 2017

Trucker-focused app maker One20 concluded in a recent study that less than half of truck drivers using One20’s service still have not switched to an electronic logging device, though the compliance date is still more than six months away.

One20’s Vice President of Marketing Amanda Ford says 57 percent of drivers surveyed don’t use electronic logging devices, and that number jumps to 60 percent with drivers over the age of 45. While Ford says she believes more drivers will begin to comply as the Dec. 18 compliance date nears, she says cost and ease of implementation seem to be holding some drivers back.

In its TopOne20 report released last week, the company outlined the best and worst of life on the road for truckers, along with how drivers spend their time and money when on the road. More than 3,000 drivers participated in the study, and Ford says the analytics from the study correlate well with other data collected from the 250,000-plus drivers that use One20’s app.

In addition to the information collected about ELDs and technology, the study also polled truckers on their favorite truck stop chains and restaurants. TA and Petro truck stops were the preferred travel center chain based on parking, clean facilities and good restaurants.

Subway restaurants were voted the best quick-serve restaurant, while Iron Skillet was voted best sit-down restaurant by the surveyed truckers.

One20 plans to release additional reports quarterly, with the next one coming in July.

California citrus growers are taking their fight against huanglongbing (HLB) and the Asian citrus psyllid to the backyards of California homes.

This week, the California State Assembly approved a bill that will allow the citrus industry to increase spending for activities to protect residential and commercial citrus trees from the invasive insect Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and the deadly plant disease it can carry, huanglongbing (HLB).

SB 243 by state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) allows for an additional $9.6 million in grower assessments to be spent by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for ACP and HLB control programs.

Because assessment funds are collected by the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program, which is managed by CDFA, the spending authority level for the program is granted by the Legislature.

SB 243 was passed unanimously by the Senate last week and the State Assembly followed suit on Monday. The governor is expected to sign the bill by the end of the month.

The bill does not increase the assessment for growers who have been funding the fight against HLB. According to Alyssa Houtby with California Citrus Mutual, the money is excess collected over the past few years.

HLB-infected trees are being found at an alarming rate in residential areas in Los Angeles and Orange counties. In the past 12 months, the number of detections has more than tripled.

“It tells us it’s expanding, but also the program is working to discover those trees,” said Houtby. She said a dozen more infected trees were found in just the past couple of months, forcing an expansion of the quarantine area there.

Houtby said 60 trees in Los Angeles and Orange counties were removed because they have HLB. The disease carried by the psyllid, is deadly to citrus trees and there is no cure or preventive measures available to growers. On Thursday, CDFA announced it had confirmed HLB in Orange County. The disease was detected in plant material taken from a lemon tree in a residential neighborhood in La Habra and from three trees (two lemon and one grapefruit) in a residential neighborhood in Anaheim.

She said fortunately, the disease has not spread too far. “There is concern, in the scientific community, we may have HLB outside that area,” she cautioned.

Tulare County growers have been battling the psyllid since the first one was discovered here in late 2011. Thousands have been found — most dead on traps — but so far HLB has only been found in trees in southern Los Angels County and northern Orange County. HLB was first detected in the Hacienda Heights area in 2012.

“If ACP is left unchecked and HLB is allowed to take hold, it will be a death sentence for California’s $3 billion citrus industry,” says California Citrus Mutual (CCM) President Joel Nelsen.

“Our Central Valley senators and assemblymembers were instrumental in moving this legislation,” said Nelsen. “In particular, CCM would like to thank Senator Galgiani and Assemblymember (Devon) Mathis for championing the bill and communicating to their urban colleagues the seriousness of this issue to all citrus trees in California.”

The grower-funded Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program was created through legislation in 2009 and authorized an assessment on growers. Growers have since invested over $100 million into the program, over 95 percent of which go to trapping, treatments and surveys in urban areas in order to stop ACP and HLB from devastating the California citrus industry as it has in other parts of the country and world.

Houtby said the extra funds will be used to expand the current program to survey areas where HLB was found and to cover the cost of additional treatments in those areas.

The program receives federal funding to augment HLB detection analyses and public communications efforts. The governor and legislature, however, have repeatedly denied industry requests for state funding.

“Year after year, the issue has expanded and yet the state has remained a silent partner despite the industry’s investment and generous support from the federal government,” commented Nelsen. “With every new detection of HLB in the urban areas, California is one step closer to succumbing to the same fate as Florida, where their citrus industry has all but collapsed due to HLB. California still has an opportunity to stop HLB, but the state must be a partner if we are to be successful.”

California Citrus Mutual is currently seeking state funding in the 2017-18 budget.

“The state has until June 15 to pass its budget and we’re doing everything we can to make sure funding for ACP and HLB control is included,” said Nelsen.

Houtby said there have not been any significant finds of psyllids so far this year in Tulare County and no psyllids have been found in Madera County in more than a year.

You’ve probably noticed a lot of photos of celebrities wearing red clown noses by now. It’s all part of a campaign dedicated to raising money for children and young people living in poverty by simply having fun and making people laugh.

Why is it now gaining popularity?

Simply put Social media rules modern marketing schemes. NBC and Twitter have helped the day take off in the United States. It serves a two-fold purpose for NBC Brand networks. It adds an opportunity to raise awareness for the childhood poverty social campaign and also helps build NBC’s Brand. “Live events are really, really important to this company. And this is one of those times when you get to do something that is great entertainment but also really stands for something.” Said Paul Telegdy of NBC.

When did it start in the USA?

The inaugural Red Nose Day was held in the US on May 21st, 2015. People across the country came together to have fun and raise funds and awareness. The day’s events culminated in a three-hour entertainment TV special on NBC featuring the country’s favorite comedians, musicians and Hollywood stars.

How much money has it raised and where can I donate?

According to the Red Nose Day website, it’s raised more than £78 million (about $122 million at current exchange rates).

You can donate at : https://rednoseday.org/donate-splash

Who’s participating?

Outside of the hundreds of celebrities that you see online there are many large corporate companies that are involved. ReedTMS is one of many companies and charities that has taken up the cause to help raise awareness to end childhood poverty. The charities involved include Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Children’s Health Fund , Feeding America, the National Council of La Raza and the United Way are also involved.

The Tampa Bay region will host another Super Bowl, thanks to a construction delay in Los Angeles.

NFL owners voted unanimously at a meeting Tuesday to move Super Bowl LV to Tampa due to a delay in building the LA Rams’ new stadium. In 2016, Tampa lost its bid to host a Super Bowl to Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami, all of which have new stadiums.

Raymond James Stadium is in the midst of a $150 million renovation. It will be the fifth Super Bowl Tampa has hosted.

“Being awarded Super Bowl 2021 is a testament to our city’s ability to shine on the international stage,” Mayor Bob Buckhorn said in a statement. “Tampa does big events as well as anybody in the world and once again we will rise to the occasion. We look forward to working to meet the host requirements over the weeks ahead. Thank you to the NFL and network of owners who voted unanimously on this move. We will not disappoint.”

Los Angeles will now host the game in 2022.

By 2021, Tampa should be a dramatically different city than it was in 2009, when it last hosted the Super Bowl. By then, several of the buildings in the Strategic Property Partners’ $3 billion, mixed-use district in downtown Tampa should be out of the ground. The Heights, a large mixed-use project on the Tampa Heights waterfront just north of downtown, should be close to completion as well, bringing a new food hall and events venue to the city.

Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, said his organization had been monitoring the situation in Los Angeles and began to seriously prepare for the possibility of hosting the game about three or four days ago.

Higgins said his group will now revisit its previous bid, reaching out to hotels, event venues and other community leaders to ensure their commitment to the 2021 game. That has to be done before the league will officially award the game to Tampa, Higgins said.

“Naturally, we need to make sure that all of that is buttoned up to the NFL’s specifications and expectations,” Higgins said.

The chance to host the Super Bowl comes on the heels of hosting the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, which Tampa hosted in January to rave reviews.

“With billions of dollars in new projects on the horizon, visitors will have an even better experience awaiting them in Tampa Bay when they attend Super Bowl LV,” Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay said in a statement.

The ELD mandate was the number-one issue on everybody’s mind in 2016 – not surprising, as we’re now only one year away from enforcement of mandatory electronic logging devices in every truck built since the year 2000.

The ATRI conducts this survey every year, and the 2016 edition had one new entry in the top 10: The cumulative economic impacts of regulations. That came in at number 3, behind the ELD mandate and Hours of Service rules, both of which also just happen to be regulatory concerns. The new entry bumped driver health and wellness out of the top 10.

Here’s the full top 10 from ATRI’s survey:

ELD Mandate

Hours of Service

Cumulative Economic Impact of Regulations

Truck Parking

Economy

CSA

Driver Shortage

Driver Retention

Infrastructure / Congestion / Funding

Driver Distraction

Truck parking jumped up two spots from the previous year’s list, and the ATRI recently completed an in-depth case study of truck parking shortages. The study focused on times when the demand for parking was highest — evenings and early mornings on weekdays — and observed that drivers who used ELDs tended to spend more time looking for parking than drivers who did not.

In other words, the ELD mandate could make the parking problem worse.

The ATRI parking study included some recommendations. Some examples are more flexible appointments with shippers/receivers, drivers shifting their hours of operation, and carriers paying their drivers’ registration fees when they use parking reservation systems.

Doing away with sailors will make the high seas safer and cleaner. It sounds like a ghost story: A huge cargo vessel sails up and down the Norwegian coast, silently going about its business, without a captain or crew in sight. But if all goes as planned, it’s actually the future of shipping. Last week, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, a Norwegian maritime technology firm, and Yara ASA, a fertilizer manufacturer, announced a partnership to build the world’s first fully autonomous cargo containership.

Manned voyages will start in 2018, and in 2020 the Yara Birkeland will set sail all on its own. It’s the beginning of a revolution that should transform one of the world’s oldest and most conservative industries — and make global shipping safer, faster and cleaner than ever.
The commercial rationale for autonomous shims has long been clear. The U.S. Coast Guard has estimated that human error accounts for up to 96% of all marine casualties. A recent surge in piracy is a grim reminder that crews remain vulnerable (and valuable) targets for international criminals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the industry is facing a chronic shortage of skilled workers who want a career at sea. By one consultant’s estimate, moreover, carrying sailors accounts for 44% of a ship’s costs.

That’s not just salaries: Crew quarters, air-conditioning units, a bridge (which typically requires heavy ballast to ensure a ship’s balance) and other amenities take up weight and space that otherwise might be used for cargo. And that dead weight contributes to a bigger problem: Maritime shipping accounts for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. All this explains why eliminating a crew and its costs has been a longtime goal for companies and governments around the world.

The most advanced effort so far has come from Rolls-Royce Holdings, which rolled out a virtual reality prototype of an autonomous ship in 2014. According to the company, the ship will be 5% lighter, and burn up to 15% less fuel, than a comparable vessel with humans aboard.

That effort has been the subject of considerable skepticism — especially from seafarer unions who doubt that technology can replace experienced sailors, and note that the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that oversees shipping, prohibits crewless operations. But what seemed impossible three years ago quickly is becoming reality. Most of the sensor technology for autonomous ships now is commercially available, and crucial collision-avoidance tools have been around in various forms since the early 1990s.

The Yara Birkeland is a modest but important step forward. Although it can be operated remotely by a pilot, it will be able to cruise on its own, using an array of sensors, cameras and navigation tools guided by sophisticated algorithms. Back on shore, an operations center will monitor its progress.

When it launches next year, with a fully electric power plant, the ship will transport fertilizer from Yara’s factory to ports about 16 miles away, thereby replacing 40,000 shipments a year that once had been carried by polluting diesel trucks. That short route will give the ship’s owners — along with regulators and other autonomous shipping aspirants — a first chance to see such a vessel in operation.

Such trips may soon become routine. Norway has designated the waters off of Trondheim as a test site for autonomous ships of all kinds, from container vessels to tugs. Earlier this year, Rolls-Royce announced that it expects autonomous containerships in international waters within 15 years. Other groups are working to do it sooner: One U.K. organization plans to have a solar-powered autonomous research vessel cross the Atlantic in 2019. Lloyd’s Register, the 250-year-old ship-classification group, already has issued guidance for crewless operations.

All this could potentially have enormous benefits for the shipping industry. Vast amounts of real-time data from the ships will allow fleet owners to optimize their routes — and profits — based on factors such as maintenance schedules, weather patterns, fuel prices and cargoes. Eventually, fleet owners might find themselves competing with the likes of Amazon.com and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. — major shippers with the big data operations and deep pockets necessary to integrate autonomous ships into their logistics operations.

For those companies, “all hands on deck” already means fingers on a keyboard or a joystick. Within a decade or two, the maritime shipping industry may well be thinking the same way.

Story by Adam Minter at Bloomberg News , published by Transport Topics